Who is the foreigner?

In front of my apartment, there is a place that people can play volleyball. Sometimes, children are also there playing with sand. It's a popular spot in the neighborhood.

One day, I was on my way to school. I saw several kids were playing there, while their mothers were chatting under the tree. When I was passing through, a girl stood up and waved to me. I laughed, and then I waved to her, too. Since then, I saw that little girl several times in the neighborhood. Every time she saw me, she waved with a big smile on her face and said,"Hi!" I did it, too. She always kept her eyes on me and even turned her head around to see me when she walked away. I told my sister the story and how adorable the little girl is. My sister said, "Of course, because to her, you're a foreigner. She feels very exciting to see you." "I...What?" I asked. "A foreigner!" she replied.

A FOREIGNER! The idea really makes me feel weird for days. To me, foreigners are the people with blond hair, blue eyes, and hairy hands and legs. They look like the Barbie Doll that I saw from a display window and that my dad refused to buy for me many years ago. That's my impression about foreigners. That's what I knew since I was little. Foreigners are living far away from my country; foreigners are untouchable like the Barbie Doll. But now, people called me, "foreigner!" I feel very strange. What I believed for years is that foreigner is a pronoun for American. Although I am standing on this country, I still think Americans are the foreigners. But, I told myself that's wrong. That's totally Ethnocentric! (Ethnocentrism, the term that I learned from my history class.) I am being ethnocentric for years. I put my country in the first place and took it for granted. Other countries were subordinate except for my country. Therefore, I knew if I stayed in my small country without going out to see the real world, I would live for my rest of life with narrow-minded.

Black or White

What's the definition of beauty? I do believe there is not only one answer toward this topic. But how do Americans think about beauty? What kind of conditions does a beauty need to have? In the US, people love to enjoy the sunlight. If a person got a suntan usually because he/she has both money and leisure time. On the other hand, do you know what's the most popular thing among Asia countries? It's whitening products! It seems like Americans love sunlight, while most Taiwanese girls hate it. What an odd situation! Yellow people want to be white, but white people want a tan. Why can't they shift?


On the other day, my sister and I went to HEB. She was wearing a cap, sunglasses, and mask because she said that she didn't want to be tanned. However, there was a gentleman who just walked out of the entrance. When he saw my sister, he said, "Who are you? Mask woman?" Then, three of us laughed. I knew he was trying to make fun with us, but I felt so embarrassed somehow. I tried to convince her not to do so; unfortunately, she wouldn't listen. "You scared everyone! Can't you see? Everyone is looking at us with the frightened face," I said. She said to me, "I don't care! I just found my face with a freckle! A freckle!" In Taiwan, wearing things like my sister did is totally acceptable. However, in the US, she looks like a weirdo.

I still remember the first time when I learned how to make up; I powdered my face like a Japanese geisha. Until someone told me that my face and neck were different colors, I finally realized that I made myself look like a ghost. However, we do believe that white equals beautiful in Taiwan. You might see many restaurants provide both indoor and outdoor seats. Americans prefer to take the outdoor seats and enjoy the sunlight; in contrast, Taiwanese escape from sunlight as much as we can. It doesn't matter how good the weather is. We are like vampires. No sunlight! Non-negotiable!

Keep honking, I am reloading!

When I was in college, I took a course called English Advertisement. In that course, we had to study and analysis English Advertisements. It was a wonderful and interesting class. However, one day, I read a slogan from the book; it said, "Keep honking, I am reloading!" It's a sticker that people can stick it on their cars. At that time, I thought Americans were all crazy drivers, and they would take out their guns when they drive; therefore, I keep reminding myself that do not piss any of them off. Nevertheless, as long as I live in this country, I know I was wrong.

Although I drove to school everyday in college, I don't drive in here. I love driving, and I also love to observe how people drive. As I observed, I think Americans sometimes drive as fast as turtles. In contrast, Taiwanese don't drive but race, especially in the big cities. Thus, Taiwanese definitely drive more crazy than Americans do. Moreover, unlike Americans, most of time, Taiwanese are very mean when they drive. It seems like people suddenly turn to be blind, once they get in the cars. They don't watch the traffic lights or signals carefully. They don't yield each other, but they yell at each other.

There is one scene shows Americans' driving habits that made me very impressive. That is, when a car wants to make a turn, other cars behind it will stop and wait for him patiently. For example:

(A car wants to turn left. B, C, and D will wait for A patiently.)

The same situation in Taiwan, A driver must to have lots of guts to do so; otherwise, B,C, and D will keep honking it or change lane immediately. Nobody wants to wait, and nobody will wait. To my surprise, Americans will wait.

Sometimes, I don't understand what's wrong with my people. They are so easy to get angry, especially when they are driving. Although we usually say to each other, "Safe drive, drive safely", what we really did is "Crazy drive, drive crazily."

Silence is golden

To me, American culture is like a friend that you haven't seen for ages. Probably you can recognize him, but you can't recall his name. Something sounds very familiar but actually not. That's so awkward, isn't it? Although I was born and grew up in Taiwan, sometimes I feel like I am a Chinese with American spirit. I started to watch Hollywood movies since I was very little, and I began to watch American episodes when I get older. Therefore, I think I knew American culture better than others. At least, I thought I had a brief idea about what is going on in this big country. When you think you know a culture very well, what else could surprise you? Actually, it does surprise me.

In the first couple months after I came here, my impression about the US is that Americans are so talkative! They talk a lot. They can talk with almost everybody in everywhere about anything. They talk with homeless; they talk with people who are waiting for traffic light. Unlike Americans, Taiwanese don't talk to any strangers on the street. In Taiwan, if someone comes to me and starts to chat with me, I would feel like, "What do you want for me?" Chances are, I would scared. However, after comparing with Americans, I started to realize that Taiwanese are pathetic somehow because we don't trust others. Everyone is like wearing an invisible mask, and we can't read each other's emotion.

When I go shopping, the cashier would ask me, "How's going today? Is everything okay? Is there anyone help you today? Do you need your receipt in your bag?......" At the first, it was okay. After shopping for five stores, I felt sick of doing this over and over again. The same questions! The same dialogue! I wanted to ask them, "Do you really need to ask so much questions? Could you just give me my stuff without speaking?" Please don't blame me for being rude. I grew up in a country that people don't ask too much questions and that people don't show their emotions easily. That's why I think Americans are talkative; nevertheless, now I know that they are just trying to be nice. Despite the fact that I still can't fake the "I am in the mood to talk" face, at least I try to speak with more sentences instead of only "Yes", "GOOD",or "Okay".

Believe it or not, I really love this kind of attitude!

Halloween

As a foreigner, Halloween sounds very unfamiliar. I was expecting to have a good memory about it, but my first Halloween was like a comedy.

I can still remember the time when I asked my sister if we need to prepare some candies for the "trick or treat" stuff. It was a week before Halloween. She said," No! Kids won't come to our apartment. They usually knock house's doors." Obviously, we didn't prepare anything for it.

When the day came, my sister and I decided to go to sixth street. Unfortunately, we found ourselves with no money. In fact, we did have money, but we couldn't use it. My sister made a mistake, so we couldn't withdraw money until Noverber 1. Reluctantly, we had to stay at home and were bored to death. "What else could worse than this?" I was talking to my sister about how bad I feel. Suddenly, we heard kid's voices outside our apartment. We froze and stared at each other silently. At that moment, we made a most stupid decision we have ever made. We turned off our lights, pretending nobody was at home...

No party, no drink, no sixth street, no candies. That was my very first Halloween!